TechFlow reported on August 19 that, according to CoinDesk, U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Karen Nelson Moore overturned an earlier ruling by Kentucky Eastern District Judge Karen Caldwell, allowing the cryptocurrency think tank Coin Center to refile its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Coin Center had previously sued these agencies in 2022, challenging a tax law amendment requiring disclosure of specific cryptocurrency transactions and personally identifiable information as unconstitutional.
The amendment is part of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in 2021, which requires users of digital assets with transaction values exceeding $10,000 to collect and report personal information such as real names, Social Security numbers, and home addresses. This provision has drawn strong opposition from the crypto industry, which argues it contradicts the principle of cryptocurrency anonymity and could infringe on privacy rights.
Coin Center filed suit in June 2022, calling the amendment "excessive surveillance" on constitutional rights, including privacy rights related to free speech and association under the First Amendment. While some privacy concerns were initially deemed not yet ripe for review, Judge Moore ruled that Coin Center's three claims—under the Fourth Amendment, the First Amendment, and the Enumerated Powers—were sufficiently mature to proceed in court.
